Chapter 210
CHARLOTTE-
There was a knock.
I opened the door and came face to face with Valentina Moretti.
5 voucher
I was shocked. She was the last person I expected to see in a Barcelona hotel corridor, race week already humming somewhere below us, the suite still smelling faintly of coffee and Luca’s shower steam.
Had she really followed us all the way here? How did she even know where we were staying? How did she get access past the front desk?
Why did she suddenly seem like a stalker?
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She smiled. Slow. The kind of smile that wanted to rub it into my face that she had found us and I had not been warned.
“Luca invited me. He told his mother where to find him. She gave me all the information. So now I’m here. Where is he?”
I could not believe it.
Had he really invited her? After everything. He’d told me I was the most important person in his life. And then arranged for this girl to show up here for him?
Valentina stepped past me like the suite had been waiting for her. Like she did not need my permission to
enter.
Her perfume was so high, it made my nose burn.
Her heels were loud against the floor. Then she looked around as if she already belonged in the same suite I had been sharing with him.
I stood with my arms over my chest and watched Luca come out of the bathroom in a T-shirt, hair wet, towel forgotten in his hand.
He saw her.
Something moved across his face too fast for me to name. Surprise. Guilt. Then the careful blank look I was used to.
She rushed toward him.
I did not stay for the exchange.
I took my bag and walked out. I could not believe he would allow her in the suite with us. Not after last night. Not after this morning. Not after asking me to go back to simply being friends, no mention of sex or kissing again.
25
O
OG
|||
O
120
Fri, Sep 23
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Chapter 210
CHARLOTTE-
There was a knock.
I opened the door and came face to face with Valentina Moretti.
5 vouchers
I was shocked. She was the last person I expected to see in a Barcelona hotel corridor, race week already humming somewhere below us, the suite still smelling faintly of coffee and Luca’s shower steam.
Had she really followed us all the way here? How did she even know where we were staying? How did she get access past the front desk?
Why did she suddenly seem like a stalker?
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She smiled. Slow. The kind of smile that wanted to rub it into my face that she had found us and I had not
been warned.
“Luca invited me. He told his mother where to find him. She gave me all the information. So now I’m
here. Where is he?”
I could not believe it.
Had he really invited her? After everything. He’d told me I was the most important person in his life. And then arranged for this girl to show up here for him?
Valentina stepped past me like the suite had been waiting for her. Like she did not need my permission to
enter.
Her perfume was so high, it made my nose burn.
Her heels were loud against the floor. Then she looked around as if she already belonged in the same suite I had been sharing with him.
I stood with my arms over my chest and watched Luca come out of the bathroom in a T-shirt, hair wet, towel forgotten in his hand.
He saw her.
Something moved across his face too fast for me to name. Surprise. Guilt. Then the careful blank look I was used to.
She rushed toward him.
I did not stay for the exchange.
I took my bag and walked out. I could not believe he would allow her in the suite with us. Not after last
night. Not after this morning. Not after asking me to go back to simply being friends, no mention of sex or kissing again.
25
O
O
OG
O
12:28 Fri, Sep 25 TF.
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
5 vouchers
The corridor was too bright. My pulse was pounding in my ears. Ten steps. That was all I managed before I bounced into someone.
It did not take me long to realize it was someone I knew.
Nico Shaw.
Yet another F1 driver. Calm in that Shaw way that made other people look chaotic.
He caught my elbow before I could bounce off him completely.
“Whoa. Easy.”
Then he saw my face. Whatever I was wearing there made his mouth flatten. “I’m guessing something happened in that suite you are not happy about.”
“Don’t start.”
“I wasn’t going to. I was going to say you look like you need to not be in that suite.” He tipped his head toward the lifts. “Come with me. We’ll get something to drink. You can wait with me until Blair and Olivia get here. They’re in the city. Shopping or something like that. Better than standing here listening through a door.”
Did he see me doing that?
Heat forced it’s way up my neck. Embarrassing. I had not even realized I had stopped walking and started listening like part of me still wanted to hear Luca’s conversation with Valentina.
I almost said no.
Then I thought of Valentina’s smile. Of Luca letting her walk in like last night had not happened. Of him turning me down more than once and then handing his mother a hotel name so the suitable girl could find him.
If Luca and I were only ever going to be friends, I needed to learn how to move on with my life. I could still have him as my best friend. It would not be easy. The only way through it was forward. Someone else. A rebound. Anything that was not standing in a hallway waiting for a man who had already chosen the version of his life that did not include us ever being more than friends.
“Fine.”
He nodded and I followed him.
The lift was mirrored. I did not look at myself. I did not want to see my expression right now.
Nico did not fill the silence with questions, which I was grateful for.
Downstairs, the lobby opened. Race week had already claimed the hotel. Caps. Team polos. Someone laughing too loudly near the concierge.
Banners were starting to go up for a weekend that did not care that my chest felt tight.
The bar was already packed.
12:28 Fri, Sep 25 TF.
The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Bottles lined up like they were tempting me.
B5 vouchers
Then I stared at a long stretch of windows looking out onto a courtyard where waiters moved between tables that were not ours.
The air smelled like citrus and espresso and the drinks of people who did not have to pretend their best friend had not just let another woman into their room.
Nico ordered for both of us. I sat with my back to the lobby on purpose.
If Luca came down with Valentina I preferred not to see it. I preferred not to watch him introduce her to a space that still had not recovered from the rejections.
The drink was cold against my fingers. I had not asked for it. I drank it anyway. More like sipped.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Nico said. “Whatever it is that has you worked up.”
“Good.”
“I’m telling you anyway that if Vescari is being an idiot, then let it all out. I’m right here to help.”
I almost smiled. Almost.
I wanted to go back upstairs and ask Luca to his face if he had been thinking about Valentina when he asked me to pretend that nothing had happened between us.
I wanted to stop caring.
I could not stop caring.
That was the problem.
“Blair’s going to ask questions when she sees you looking like this,” Nico added. “Olivia’s going to ask worse
ones.”
I believed him. We had only recently started being friends, but I liked talking to them. I was not sure l wanted to confess anything about Luca yet. They might think I was pathetic. Liking someone with a reputation like Luca, someone that didn’t settle down with anyone.
The girl who asked for sex and got a speech and then watched the approved possible future fiancée walk in with a smile.
I could not believe my week. I was in a hotel bar with a Shaw because the boy I had called my best friend had told the girl his mother wanted him to marry where to find him the same time he asked me to pretend we had never kissed.
I checked my phone.
No message from Luca.
Not where did you go.
Not it’s not what it looks like.
12:28 Fri, Sep 25 ) TF ·
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Not even I’m sorry she showed up.
urned it face down.
5 vouchers
The wood of the table was smooth under my palm. I pressed my fingers into it until the urge to go back upstairs passed.
I was not going to stand outside that door again. I was not going to listen. I was not going to give Valentina the satisfaction of seeing my sad face a second time.
“They’ll be here in an hour,” Nico said. “Until then, you’re not going back upstairs. That’s an order from someone who isn’t your driver and isn’t your problem.”
Isn’t my driver?
Was Luca considered my driver?
I looked at the lifts anyway.
Gold doors. Numbers ticking. People getting in with weekend bags and race credentials.
I did not get in one.
I stayed with Nico and the drink I could not handle, and I told myself I was not waiting to see if Luca came looking.
I was only waiting for Blair and Olivia.
My new friends.
AD
Comment
Send gift
No Ads
12:28 Fri, Sep 25 1
The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.